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We’re back! We made the trip in less than 24 hours for our first round of LIT. We need to have our second treatment in 3-5 weeks. The treatment itself is not a big deal. I got two injections which took less than 5 minutes. The overhead was another story. Crossing the US/Mexico border, visiting a random border town in Mexico, meeting all new faces may of whom spoke only broken English, definitely edgy and out there.

Here is a step-by-step of how it all went down:

1. We waited in Arizona for the van at the McDonalds at the scheduled time (11 AM). (I skipped the whole fast food thing as I had an AMAZING breakfast at our hotel before we left. I am still thinking about those waffles. Mr. Star was fasting, but he never eats breakfast anyway so he wasn’t bothered)

2. We met Cesar our driver. He was our guide for the day and picked us up in a Honda Odyssey. He was a few minutes late so we were a bit nervous. That particular location has zero cell service which didn’t help. Mr. Star used GoogleTalk via the internet roaming to call the clinic and confirm he was coming which was reassuring.

3. We drove across the border through the gates. We got some glances by the security but noone stopped us. Apparently Mexico doesn’t check passports or IDs for people coming in. The border itself is a fence over 30 feet high with rough terrain on both sides.

4. We drove through the town of Nogales to the clinic. When you enter you definitely feel like you’ve left the US and are now in a much lower income country as the roads are suddenly much crappier and the phone and electrical wiring is exposed and appears to be hung everywhere. There is a lot of foot traffic and brightly painted cement buildings closed together with signs in Spanish.

5. We arrived at the clinic which is one of many offices that share the building. Cesar our guide walked us up through the lobby to the clinic on the second floor and we waited in the waiting room looking at the many photos of babies on the wall.

They smiled at us and told us to wait. It seemed like we were the only non-Mexicans there and everyone was speaking Spanish. We waited a good thirty minutes before the receptionist asked us to come back. In the meantime I burned through their magazine collection including old issues of National Geographic and an issue of the local paper (in Spanish) including an ad for the clinic.

6. We meet Dr. Quiroga who asks us if we speak Spanish. He is relieved when Mr. Star pipes up fluently, but then I let him know that I only speak a little. In my attempt to practice my Spanish I answered some of his questions in Spanish, but it was weird. It felt really odd to be turning a conversation about miscarriages into a Spanish lesson. Fortunately it was just a screening and he got all the information he needed from our paperwork.

7. Mr. Star did his blood draw in the room next door which went smoothly. He chatted away with the nurse in Spanish (lucky because she doesn’t speak English) and then we were done. They took the blood and started the cleansing process to make the injections which takes about an hour. It looks like the blood vials just get processed in the giant machine that was in the same room.

8. Our driver, Cesar picked us up right afterwards and drove us to lunch across town. He took us to a really nice restaurant called “La Roca” that had white table cloths and waiters in white jackets and bow ties. It was a bit out of the way for walking so I was grateful he drove us there. There was even an old guy taking polaroids you could by, as if you were eating there to celebrate a special occasion. I couldn’t resist the cheesiness so we got one. The food was great and it almost felt like we were on vacation.

9. Right at the end of the hour and after lunch Cesar picked us up and whisked us back to the clinic where I had the injections. The needles with the cells were very small and the injections just went below the skin. It was weird but not too painful. Still, I was SO relieved it was over as I had really worked myself up about it. The last visit for the injections was so quick Cesar just waited out front in the car and he was ready to take us back right away.

10. We made our final cross back to the US sitting in the van watching the carnival atmosphere. People were walking up and down the line of cars selling popsicles, music CDs and statues of the virgin Mary. I wish I got a photo of the last one because it looked really funny. When we got to the border the US agent asked what we were doing in Mexico. Cesar said we were at “the clinic”. I wondered if he knew what that meant. He asked us then if we worked with “an agency”. Mr. Star and I looked at each other not sure what he meant. We answered “yes” and the agent seemed satisfied and moved us along very politely.

That was pretty much it. We spent the rest of the day just killing time before our flight geocaching, site seeing at the national park and taking funny photos of cheesy road sign animal art. I will let you all know how it goes. Ultimately time will tell if this adventure amounted to anything more than a bizarre experience.

7 Responses to “Back from Nogales”

What an adventure!! Thanks for sharing with us. A lot of my parents’ friends get medical and dental procedures done in Mexico, as some common procedures are not covered by Medicare. They’ve all had really good experiences. Wishing you lots of luck 🙂

Bizarre! I have super high hopes for you guys. There has to be something to this. I am glad you were able to enjoy what you could of the trip. That lunch looks delishious (can you tell I miss mexican food badly on the east coast?).

StarFish,
Hi. I’m all confused. Just got back from my RE-he suggested LIT therapy and mentioned “a border town” in Mexico-but did not give me details-left it to me find out where I can get LIT. Can you tell me how you got in touch with the Mexican clinic? I would like to go there too. How did you get the driver in Arizona? Was that all arranged thru the Mexican clinic? Please..any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated. Please email me as soon as possible.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience, strength, and hope – please keep us informed about the outcome of your journey to parenthood. Wishing your dream comes true to give hope for so many other couples struggling with fertility and/or immune difficulties.

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